Apparatus for making motion pictures



Wm lwammg Q Noi 1934- l. G. RIES Er AL 1,982,322

APPARATUS FOR MAK I NGVMOTION PICTURES Filed April 30, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Elm ucnfo'm Gf/eale Z Nov. 27,' 1934. I. cs. RIES ET AL 1,

APPARATUS FOR MAKING MOTION PICTURES Filed A ril :50, 1928 2 Sheets-Shet 2 Patented Nov. 27, 1934 APPARATUS FOR MAKING MOTION PICTURES Irving G. Rica and Douglas Graham Shearer, Los

Angelos, CaliL, assignors to Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer Corporation, Culver City, Calif., a corporation of New York Application April 30, 1928, Serial No. 273,841

7 Claims. (CI. 95-45) This invention relates to an apparatus for makth and apparatus embodying thi invention. ing motion Pictures nd p r y Suited for Figure 2 is a sectional edge elevation of a lens obtaining a close shot of an object or scene,.or as b di d i thi i v tion,

a "long shot of an object orscene without mov- Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view of the appaing the motion picturecamera closer to the object ratus embodying this invention illustrating dieor scene, or farther from the object or scene, and grammatically the manner of carrying out the is also directed to an apparatus for making a method embodying this invention to maintain perambulawr sh p to, or a perambulator ot sufficient illumination or brightness of the image away from an object or scene, or a combination of reproduced in th cam ra,

both, while maintaining the motion picture cam- Figure 4 is a view showing a scene.

era-stationary. Figure 5 is a view showing a close-up of a Heretofore it has been common practice to take portion of the scene shown in Figure 4. what is known in the art as perambulated shots Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmental elevation o of a scene or Object y slidin r lling a c m r a modified form of apparatus embodied, in this away from or toward the object or scene to be invention. p p d e De a g f t In using the apparatus of this invention, a. staera to or from the object or scene is often an tionary camera is positionedin operative relation impossible Objectionable method of making with respect to the scene to be taken. Between such scenes due to physical difliculties encounthe camera and th sce th r i unt d tered, and the inability to accurately slide or 0 1 large negative or auxiliary lens, or lenses, having the camera to a predetermined position toward or comparatively low negative power. This auxilaway from the object being photographed and iary lens is moved toward, or away from, the due to the fact that in many cases there are p y scene, in front of the objective lens of the camera, ical obstructions present which prevent the movin such a manner that the image of the scene ing of the camera closer to or away from the obappears through'the auxiliary lens, and increases ject being photographed, such obstructions as or decreases in size as the auxiliary lens is moved commonly encountered are possibly a body of W&- away from and toward the scene. The illuminater, a deep ravine, a glass partition, or aolattice tion or brightness of the image produced in the fence between the camera and the object or scene camera is not reduced or lessened or increased by being photographed. the manipulation of the auxiliary lens beyond a An object of this invention is to provide an apsufliciently small amount to make it practical to paratus for producing what are commonly known use this method in photographing, to produce peras perambulated shots" by maintaining the ambulating scenes which are normally illumicamera stationary in relation to the scene or obnated, or interior artificiallyilluminated scenes, ject to be taken and includes a lens, or lenses, in or night scenes, without using excessive illuminatfront of the motion picture camera movable in ing means or varying the illumination on the a manner to enlarge or diminish the image of the scenes as the'size of the image to be produced on scene or object which is reproduced on the film the film in the camera is increased or decreased. in the camera. The auxiliary lens is manipulated to and fro '40 Another object of this invention is to provide beyond the principal focal point of the objective an apparatus for carrying out the objects of this lens of the camera and therefore remains purely invention which includes a motion picture cam an'auxiliary or reducing lens and does not form era, a lens, a carriage for the lens, and means ,what is commonly knownas atelephoto'combinafor manipulating the lens in proper position in re-- tion when taken together with the objective lens lation to the camera, in a manner to maintain of the camera in an optical sense. It is the ma.-

' the illumination or brightness of the image pronipulation of the auxiliary or reducing lens beyond duced in the camera at a sumcient or predeterthe principal focal point of the objective lens of mined o nt, the camera which enables us to produce perambu- Other objects and advantages of this inven lator scenes without cutting down the effective tion it is believed will be apparent from the 101- light below the illumination indicated by the dialowing detailed description of a preferred emphragm stop of the objective lens 7 if used alone bodiment thereof as illustrated in the following for any size image produced of a given scene being drawings: s photographed, within the limits of the apparatus.

In the drawings: 7 By employing the large auxiliary lens and ma- Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating the nipulatlng the same beyond the principal focal point of the objective lens of the camera, the focal length of the complete combination is decreased, and the effective aperture of the complete combination, or the illumination on the film, is greater than that of the main objective. It has also been found that the farther from the main objective lens the auxiliary lens is placed, the shorter is the focal length of the complete combination and the larger is the effective aperture, and the: greater the illumination on the film. It will, therefore, be obvious that by manipulating the reducing or auxiliary lens back and forth to any position beyond the principal focal point of the main objective lens, that the focal length of the complete combination is varied accordingly and that the size of the picture on the film is varied accordingly, while the effective aperture of the complete combinationremains at least as large as that of the main objective lens and the further the reducing lens is moved from the objective lens, the greater will be the effective aperture of the combination. i

In the accompanying drawings are illustrated a preferred form of apparatus in which 1 indicates a supporting frame upon which an ordinary motion picture camera 2 is mounted on guides 3 as illustrated at 4.

Slidably mounted on the guides 3 is a carriage 5 which carries the large auxiliary lens combination 6. The lens combination 6 may be a single large minus lens of low negative power, as illustrated in Figure 2, or may be a pair of such minus lenses mounted together on the carriage 5.

In order to manipulate the lens 6 back and forth from the principal or objective lens 7 of the camera 2, the following means are preferably provided. Secured to the carriage 5 is a chain 8 which is trained over an idler sprocket 9 at one end and over a driven sprocket 10 at the reverse end of the frame 1. The sprocket 10 is secured to a shaft 11 and a handle 12 is provided for rotating the shaft 11. In order to maintain the lens combination of the lenses 6 and 7 in proper focus upon the scene 13, the objective lens 7 of the camera 2 is mounted on a slide 14 which is slidably supported on a guide 15. A gear rack 16 is mounted in the guide 15 and a pinion is rotatably supported in the slide 14. The pinion (not shown) is secured to an operating shaft 17, having a handle 18 secured thereto. By rotating the shaft 17, the objective lens 7 is moved to or from the camera 2. In maintaining the proper focus of the lens combination, the lens 7 is prefocused on the image 19 of the scene 13 which appears in the reducing lens 6.

As the reducing lens 6 is moved away from or toward the lens 7, the lens combination would become out of focus and means are therefore provided for shifting the lens 7 in order to maintain the focus of this lens 7 on the image 19 appearing through the lens 6. After the lens 7 has been prefocused, a mark 20 is made on av strip 21 secured to the guide 15 opposite pointer 26 on slide 14 to indicate the proper position of the lens 7 when the lens 6 is positioned as indicated in Figure 1.

the contacts 22 is connected with a signaling device, for example, an electric bell and the contact bar 23 is connected with the opposite side of the electric circuit to the bell. In this manner when the contact bar 23 engages a contact 22, a signal is given and the camera man will at. this time move the lens 7 of the camera 2 to the position corresponding to the mark previously made which corresponds to the contact 22 which is engaged with the contact bar 23.

The bell is illustrated at 25. It is to be understood that the movement of the lens 7 of the camera is not directly proportional to the movement of the lens 6. In other words, the movement of the lens 7 should not be in a straight line relationship to the movement of the lens 6. The stops 22 merely signal the operator when to adjust the lens 7 but if the stops 22 are equally spaced and the carriage 5 advanced at a uniform speed, the lens 7 is not moved equal distances at each signal. It may be stated that a progressively varying movement of relationship should exist between lenses 6 and '7, this progressive movement of changing ratio varying with the focal length and curvature of the lens 6, thus maintaining the objective or camera lens 7 upon the image of the scene to be photographed formed by the negative lens 6.

In Figure 5 is illustrated the image of the scene 13 which will be formed when the auxiliary lens 6 is moved to a position near the lens 7 while in Fig. 4 is illustrated the image of the scene 13 which will appear on the film in the camera 2 when the auxiliary lens 6 is moved away from the lens 7 and it will be obvious that images of increasing or decreasing size of the scene 13 will be formed as the lens 6'is moved to or from the camera 2 between the limits as illustrated in Figures 4 and 5.

In focusing the combination the lens 7 is 1115 moved to a position so that its principal focal point 26 is beyond the film 27 in the camera 2 as illustrated in Fig. 3, and the auxiliary or reducing lens 6 is at all times manipulated outside of or beyond the opposite principal focal point 27 of the objective lens 7. It will be obvious that by moving the lens 6 toward the scene 13 that the lens 7 will gather in light from a greater area and this increased light intensity will increase the brilliancy or illumination of the image formed by the lens 7. As the lens 6 is moved toward the camera 2 so that a larger image of a portion of the scene 13 is formed by the lens 7, it will be obvious that although the lens 7 will gather light from a lesser area or portion of the scene 13. the larger image will still be of sufficient brilliancy for photographic purposes, if the aperture of lens 7 has been suitably adjusted, because the effective aperture of the" complete combination will not be less than the aperture indicated on lens 7, thereby producing images of increasing or decreasing size of sufficient'light intensity at all positions, eliminating the necessity of increasing beyond usual practice the illumination projected onto the: scene 13.

In the modified form of this invention illustrated in Figure 6, the objective lens 7 of the camera 2 is connected with the auxiliary lens 6 so that as the auxiliary lens 6 is manipulated between the scene 13 and the principal focal point of the camera 2 the objective lens 7 is automatically shifted to the proper position to maintain the lens 7 in focus upon the image of the scene formed on the lens 6. In order to the shaft 11 to which the sprocket 10 which drives the chain 8 is secured. A gear segment 36 is pivotally supported at 3'7 in position to engage the gear teeth 38* formed on the under side of the slide 15. A sliding bar39 is mounted to slide vertically relative to the frame I and is provided with gear teeth 40 which mesh with the teeth of a gear segment 41 which is operatively connected with the segment 36*. As the shaft 11 is rotated to move the chain 8* and thereby shift the lens 6, the rack is driven to shift the positions of the bars 31.

As the bars 31* are moved they engage a roller 42 securedto the bar 39* and shift the bar 39' vertically; thereby causing the segments 41 and 36 to rotate and drive the slide 15* shifting the lens 7 to maintain the same in focus with the image formed upon the lens 6. In operation the lens '7 is prefocused upon the image appearing in the lens 6 and the carriage 5 is moved along the guides 3 within the range desired. During operation the contact bar 23 engages the contacts 22, and roller 42 carried by the bar 39 contacts with bars 31 bar 39 and consequently shifting the lens 7 to adjust the focus of this lens on the image appearing in the reducing or auxiliary lens 6. The bars 31 thus in effect produce a cam 'surface which imparts a progressively varying movement to the lens '7 with respect to a uniform movement of the negative lens 6. Furthermore, such varying movement is itself automatically attained without the necessity of manual adjustment to either of the lenses. If the sprocket 8 is driven at a uniform speed, the bars 31, roller 42'} member 39, as well as the gear segments 41* and 38', translate such uniform motion of the negative lens 6 into a progressively varying motion of the camera lens 7 Having fully described our invention, it is to be understood that we do not wish to be limited to the details herein set forth, but our invention is of the scope of the appended claims. y

We claim: 1. In a photographic apparatus of the character described, the combination of a camera provided with an objective lens movable along its optical axis, a negative lens movably positioned in the optical axis, and means for simultaneously imparting a uniform motion along the optical axis to one of said lenses and progressively varying motion along the optical axis to the other of said lenses and means for changing the progressively varying motion of the last mentioned lens.

2. In a photographic apparatus of the character described, the combination of a camera pro-..

vided with an. objective lens movable a1ongits optical axis, a negative lens movably positioned in the optical axis, means for moving said negative lens, and means actuated by said moving means for moving said objective lens at a progressively changing rate with respect to the movethereby raising or lowering the optical axis of 'said objective,

axis of said objective, means ment of said negative lens said last named means being provided with means for altering the progressively changing rate of movement of said objective lens.

3. In a photographic apparatus of the character described, the combination of a camera provided with an objective lens movable along its optical axis, a negative lens movably positioned inthe optical axis, means for moving said negative lens along said optical axis, means actuated by said mo ing means for moving said objective lens at a progressively changing rate with respect to the movement of said negative lens, and means for adjustably regulating said last named means tovary such progressive rate of change.

4. In a photographic apparatus of the character described, the, combination of a bed frame, a camera provided with an objective lens movable along its optical axis carried'by said frame, a

acter described, the combination of a bed frame,

a camera provided with an objective lens movable along its optical axis carried by said bed frame, a carriage slidablymounted on said bed frame, a negative lens positioned on said carriage in the the carriage and negative lens along the optical for moving said ob.- jective lens, and a variably adjustable means operably connected to said moving means for translating a substantially uniform movement of one of said moving means into a progressively varying movement of the other of said moving means.

6. In a photographic apparatusof. the character described, the combination of a bed frame, a camera provided with an objective lens movable along its optical axis carried by said bed frame,

a carriage provided with a negative lens slidably positioned on said bed frame, means for moving said objective lens and carriage toward and away from each other, and a selectively adjustable means for translating uniform rate of movement of said carriage into a progressively. changing rate of movement of said objective lens.

7. In a photographic apparatus of the character' described, the combination of a, bed frame, a camera provided with an objective lens movable along its optical axis carried by said bed frame, a carriage provided with a negative lens slidably positioned on said bed frame, means for moving- ..IRVING G. RIEs.

DoUGLas GRAHAM SHEARER. 4

means for moving 110 

